A Better Understanding
by The Blade of Osh-Tekk
Summary: Jax didn't hate Johnny Cage. He simply disliked him. After the war, what happens when Jackson Briggs learns that there is more to know about Cage than what he originally thought?
A/N: This something random I thought of when I was riding the bus this morning. Kombat Pack Two coming out got me thinking about a lot of things Mortal Kombat. This was one of them. Personally, I never get why Johnny and Jax are always at odds. Is it just for Jacqui being in Special Forces? I mean, to be honest, if this continues after all has been said and done with Shinnok, it's only gonna get worse. Sure, Jax is gruff and completely serious while Johnny is laid back and a clown most of the time, but I don't see why they have to be enemies that just happen to fight for the same cause. Thus the origin of this story. So if I get things wrong, forgive me. I'm not exactly an expert with the story.

* * *

Johnny leaned his arms over the panel in the briefing room with a frown over his face. Normally the kombatant was at ease, but there were numerous things in his mind that kept racing as he processed the events that happened a few weeks ago. The revival of Shinnok, his daughter beating the shit of Shinnok(the thought itself brought a feeling of pride his gut), and his face being damn near eaten off by cannibalistic bugs. While the idea of bugs eating his flesh was completely skin crawling, literally he might add, he found his uses for the team becoming considerably shorter.

They had obviously shown their capabilities to function as a unit after hearing about them lasting as long as they did against Outworld's entire army, which he heard from Kuai Liang, Sub-Zero, Coldilocks, whatever you wanted to call him. Johnny could make a list that could go on for miles if he really wanted to, but that wasn't the point.

His daughter had shown she was a skilled fighter. She defeated Shinnok just like he did over twenty years ago. Even though like his situation, it was very technical, it was still an amazing feat. Kung Jin and Jacqui had defeated the ruler out of Outworld single handedly, and the Emperor was far from a lightweight in the likes of kombat. As for Takeda, the kid definitely had plenty of skill to him. Hanzo had trained him well. Their entire story after they explained it to him was hard to believe, but he knew for a fact it was true. And that had shown how much this this team had grown. They had gotten over their petty squabbles for control and leadership and functioned as one, which was the only thing they had truly lacked before the event with Shinnok.

But that was just the problem. They were fully a team now. They no longer needed to be trained. Well, according to his ex-wife who had decided to put them on official missions. That left Johnny with nothing but... ugh, politics of being in Special Forces. When he gave up being in the field to keep an eye on his daughter and help these students achieve their potential, he did not think about what would happen when there was no one left to train. He could tell you now. Boring. Boring and empty.

Johnny Cage could tell you outright that he _hated_ being bored. Not only was it fun winding people up with his cheesy jokes and brash attitude, but it was also a way to keep things fun. A room that was always serious was always boring. Unless it involved a dire situation that required his full and undivided attention, he was never serious. Even then, he would tend to still crack the kinds of jokes that he did. Going into kombat, he joked. During kombat, he joked. And after it was over, he mocked his opponent. He didn't even care about the mind games it could play on some of his opponents. He just loved the satisfaction of keeping the situation light and his enemies bleeding. Well, Jax didn't half count. He didn't know whether he could call the man an enemy.

Johnny checked the phone he always kept on him. It wasn't connected with the same kind of magic that allowed him to communicate in between the realms, but it was good for keeping track of the time, which was always nice. It was starting get late. He hadn't really left this building for hours. Not only to be left with his thoughts, but as not to run into Secretary Blake while he was going somewhere. He hated when the man got him involved in things he knew he would not be interested in. He was the type to tell you that 'we don't always do what we want to do, but we always do what we have to do' type of guy. But that was just thing. He didn't _have_ to do it! And his ex knew it too, which was one thing about her that he couldn't stand for the life of him.

"Cage," Johnny heard a deep voice say on the side of him. He turned to see that Jax had just opened the door to the building he was in. He was wondering when anyone would come in here.

"Tin Man," Johnny said with a small smirk. Like he expected, Jax's frown got even deeper at his words, though his reaction wasn't extreme. Maybe he was slowly getting used to it. Johnny didn't like the idea of that.

"I'm not in the mood. Where's Sonya? I need a ride back to my place," Jax said.

"You mean you aren't sticking around?" Johnny asked.

"Too much time around this place is toxic for my health," Jax said.

"Yeah, I can see what you mean. Then again, that might be the politics and my ex-wife's yelling," Johnny said with a smile.

"I think she suffered more than you did," Jax said, making Johnny snort.

"Ha! I've heard that before. About a million times," he said.

"Cause it's likely true," Jax said, making Johnny rotate his head in slight annoyance.

"You don't know anything about why we divorced, so don't go there Jax," he told him. As far emotions go, his divorce was the only thing that really got to him when they didn't know anything about him. Well, that and his family.

"Well, it's not like we know anything about it. Sonya doesn't say anything about it, and I'm not going to question you about it," Jax said.

"Why not?" Johnny asked.

"Do you have to ask?" Jax questioned.

"Well, I can tell you that I divorced her," Johnny said.

"That I doubt," Jax said.

"Why do you doubt it Jax?" Johnny asked. Jax raised an eyebrow. The fact that he called him by his first name made him pay attention. Even though he knew it wasn't, it felt like the first time that Johnny called him by his first name. It sounded like he was serious, which felt like the first time since they had ever talked.

"Simply because you are the way you always are. Initially, I didn't see what Sonya saw in you. I thought you were arrogant, too much of a joker, an idiot..."

"I've heard it all before," Johnny cut him off.

"And I thought it made sense when she divorced you..."

"But she didn't. That's the thing. I left. I had enough of her working all of the time. I had enough of feeling like I was the only one in the relationship," Johnny said.

"Sonya is a worker. That's how she works. If you didn't realize that, you shouldn't have married her in the first place," Jax told her.

"Even I know that both people in the relationship have a responsibility. The husband has to uphold responsibilities to the wife, and it goes the other way around as well. Sonya did not uphold her end of this relationship," Johnny said.

"You expect Sonya to -"

"I _expected_ her to at least be around and help me raise Cassie. I _expected_ her to be my wife. Apparently that's too much to ask," Johnny said, failing to hold back the anger and bitterness that was in his throat. But it was rising and it was rising fast.

Jax could say he was taken aback by the emotion in Cage's voice. He had never heard him take a serious emotional tone with anything. It's always been joking and hardly ever serious. Not angry, not sad. Those emotions you expect to see on most people, Cage seemed to be completely immune to them. Overpowered by his ability to be a clown. That was not the case now.

"Let me paint a picture for you. You just got married a few weeks ago. Your wife goes to work before you're even awake. All you're left with is a note saying she's at work. You believe her. Then this happens over the course of a few weeks. You've got nothing to work on, so it's not like you have anything constructive to do. The last time you properly saw her was a week after Quan Chi disappeared the first time. Right when you start to get worried, you get contacted by Special Forces. They tell you that they want your help with outer realm matters because of your experience in the war," Johnny started explaining.

"I thought getting closer to her would be better for the both of us. But she turns soulless when she's at work it seems. I really don't understand what happens to her while she was at work. Maybe she's still worried about getting Kano behind bars, I don't know. But apparently that gives her the right to walk around with a stick up her ass constantly. It felt like it only got worse when Cassie was born. I'm guessing she blamed me for the reason she had to go on maternity leave for a few months which was time she could've searched for Kano. I don't know. She never really talked to me."

"Sonya takes her work seriously. Even before she met you that's how she worked. There are days where she wouldn't even come home. Especially after we found out Kano was a traitor. She hunted him relentlessly. And now she has him. There's no escape for him now," Jax says.

"As if that matters. She will always put her own work over me and Cassie. And that seems like how she'll always be. And I've already gotten used to the idea," Johnny said evenly.

"Sonya cares for her work, but she doesn't care for it that much. She cares for you and Cassie whether she shows it or not," Jax says.

"Yeah. When we're about to die. Before I almost had my face eaten off by Hive Vagina a few weeks ago, Sonya treated me like the plague. Something to be hated and kept away from. And I've heard how's she's talked to Cassie. No praising, no support. Just reprimands and orders. Me and Cas have gone over it several times. If I'm not there to check her, it'll be like working for a slave driver rather than her own mother. At least that's what she feels like when I'm off doing something else. I'm afraid that it'll come to blows between those two eventually if this continues," Johnny explained.

"Is it getting that bad?" Jax asked.

"Yes. It is very much getting bad. I mean, I haven't heard anything like that since Shinnok's invasion, but that's what I'm guessing it'll go back to," Johnny said.

Jax frowned deeply. He knew for a fact he didn't know a damn thing about what was going on with the Cage family. Personally, at the time, he didn't care. He was dealing with his own demons of protecting his daughter and his nightmares of his time as a revenant. For him, his wife was the reason he avoided killing himself in the first place after he was freed. But from how Cage's perspective, his wife was driving him to inserting the barrel in his mouth, not get away from it. He knew Sonya could definitely be bossy, but she had gotten far worse from how Cage tells it.

"I've been out of touch with Sonya for a long time, but I would think you would be somewhere having fun as a team couple. Not arguing about work," Jax said.

"Well, being a superstar had it's perks until I retired from it to be in Special Forces. Personally, if I didn't have a daughter to look after, I most certainly would've stayed in the acting business. But it's not like I'm of much use anymore," Johnny said before leaning up off the panel he was on and started pacing. He rubbed his forehead out of a minor headache while Jax processed his words and the way he said them.

"Well, I had a daughter to protect. Was doing a good job of it too until you came along," Jax said in an slightly irritated voice.

"Jacqui came to me, remember? She had the skill, she had the prowess, and the drive. I had no reason to refuse her," Johnny said.

"You knew what I wanted," Jax said in a growl.

"And that didn't mean I had to listen. I was not going to hold her back. Even if I drove her back, she would've just found a way around me. So instead of holding her back and wasting her time, I welcomed her to the team with open arms. The only thing I regret is not listening to Jacqui when she said you should be the one to tell you she joined Special Forces instead of me. I don't think you would've broken her jaw," Johnny said with a smile while moving his jaw from side to side. Jax frowned. He could easily see Cage was still holding something back. He moved straight to jokes in no time at all when he was just serious seconds. He could easy deduce that to Cage just being Cage, but Jax didn't think so. There was something he didn't want to say.

"Spill it Cage. You're hiding something," Jax said.

"There are a lot of things that I'm hiding. One thing is what I did with Secretary Blake's shoes one day. Another involves -"

"Cage." Jax was not in the mood for jokes right now. Then again, he never was. For him, jokes were a complete waste of time. That's why he couldn't stand Cage half the time. The man was overflowing with them. He always had some smart remark or something witty to say.

"What do you expect me to say?" Johnny asked, holding his arms out.

"I expect you to tell me more about why you're upset. It's certainly not about Sonya. You seem resigned about that. There's something else," Jax said, crossing his metal arms.

"How about we talk about something else before I go that far? Do me a favor and indulge me for a moment Metal Man," Johnny said with an extravagant bow. Jax groaned softly, but he figured whatever he was upset hit close to home. He would indulge him just this once.

"Alright. Why is your daughter so much like you? I remember the first time I got into a conversation with her. I asked what it was like being in Special Forces. She told me, and I quote, 'What's it like being around a bunch of broody, stuck-up old bags while one of them's your mother? Completely pleasant.' It sounded like something you would say, so I assumed you told her to say it," Jax told him. Johnny simply grinned like a fool.

"That's my girl," he said with a proud smile.

"Just answer the question Cage," Jax said impatiently.

"Simply because I was the one who did most of the parenting. So she learned to be so much like me. Of which I could vomit with pride," Johnny said with a self satisfied smirk.

"You mean to tell me you did most of the parenting? When you could easily hire someone else to do it?" Jax questioned.

"Not like I had anything else to do. Sonya was gone most of the time and my agent hadn't called me on any recent movie offers. This was before I retired, of course. So I wanted to do something that was worth something. Take care of my little girl. Spent of a fortune on clothes, I can tell you that much," Johnny said. For the first time in this conversation, Jax smiled.

"Yeah. I know what you mean on that account. Granted, I don't have as much money as you do, but I made a lot during my years in Special Forces. Plus from Vera's job. Granted, when it comes to you, she could've just inherited the money spending on clothes from you. You spend five hundred dollars on the same stupid pair of sunglasses every time they get broken," he told him.

"Granted, that only happened when I kept getting my ass kicked in the Mortal Kombat tournament twenty years ago. I didn't even compare to most of the fighters there even though when I came there, I walked in thinking I was going to kick the shit out of everyone and walk away with a sweet golden belt. Like that would prove to the world that Johnny Cage was no fraud in the art of fighting," Johnny said before shaking his head. "Obviously, I didn't really beat the shit out of much of anyone."

"You actually beat some of the fighters there? I hadn't noticed," Jax said idly.

"That's cause Shang Tsung had you locked up in a cell. I fought four people at the time. Reptile, Baraka, Sonya, and Kano," Johnny said before Jax held up a hand to stop him.

"Hold up. Sonya? What the hell?" he questioned.

"Yeah, that's when flirting takes a bad turn. She does not take kindly to it. But after I fought her, Kano showed up and tried to throw me off a bridge. But I don't think he'll have any children after that encounter," Johnny said.

 _"That,_ I have to thank you for Cage," Jax said, actually meaning it. The thought of Kano having children to continue his legacy was repulsive at best.

"Think of it as my contribution to preventing the Land of Shitheads from more powerful," Johnny said with a smirk. Then Jax got serious once again. He could admit to himself that he was actually enjoying the small talk with Cage, but not to anyone else. But things must always get back to the main subject at hand.

"Alright, that's done. Now why are you, out of all people, staying in a tent away from everyone else when your primary objective of life is to be an annoying clown?" Jax questioned.

"Well, only cause you asked nicely," Johnny said sarcastically rather than jokingly. Jax nodded mentally. This was definitely hitting close to home.

"Simply because I am no longer in charge of my team. They are officially trained, according to my ex-wife, and therefore, they are to be sent on more official missions. Whether I lead them or not will have to be decided by the directors. I can almost guarantee that Secretary Blake will try and vote against me and keep me in the political bullshit," Johnny explained.

"Other than the fact you may not get to lead your own team, why are you upset?" Jax asked.

"Because I don't feel nowhere near as useful as I was when I was training them. They are 'officially' trained now. Which means I'm not much of a help to them anymore. And training this team was the only thing that made being in Special Forces worthwhile. If it wasn't for them, I would've left a long time ago. Gone into exile or whatever the fuck. My wife doesn't care about me. My daughter doesn't need me. And no one else likes me. What's the point of sticking around?" Johnny questioned, shrugging his shoulders.

Now Jax understood. And personally, that's a very upsetting thing to think about. To not feel needed or wanted sounded like a very miserable existence.

"That's actually a pretty valid reason to be upset. I suppose the same thing could be said for my daughter," Jax said.

"At least you still have a wife to go home to," Johnny said, facing away from Jax and looking at the wall. Now that Jax actually judged on what he saw rather than what he thought when he heard they were divorced, he discovered that not only was Cage more broken up about it than people thought, but the fact of the matter is was that he had a valid reason as to why the relationship went downhill.

"I suppose you have a point about that one. Seems like your daughter isn't the only one you mostly raised," Jax said.

"What are you talking about? I've only trained Jacqui for a few years," Johnny said.

"But you taught her how to fight, defend herself, and grow up. _That_ should've been me," Jax said.

"You were a revenant through half of Jacqui's life. You can't blame yourself for that," Johnny said.

"I was done being a revenant by the time she was in her higher teens. That's not an excuse. I spent that time keeping her away from any possible danger when she wanted to play a role in helping out," Jax said.

"Like father, like daughter. Trust me, trying to get her to follow orders sometimes was like trying to get Sonya to lighten up. Believe me, it's not easy," Johnny said.

"With your sense of humor? I don't doubt that," Jax said, shaking his head.

"I actually have a great sense of humor. You're the ones with a terrible sense of humor. I keep things light. It's always serious, dark, and murky when I'm around all of you. It's also boring, and I hate being bored," Johnny said.

"But there's a time and place to be a joker. And that does not include almost one hundred percent of the time," Jax said.

"And the same goes for being serious. I do think being serious that long is bad for your health," Johnny said, making Jax roll his eyes.

"Anyway, how did you train your group? I'm genuinely curious. You have Takeda, who has daddy issues. Kung Jin was a thief and is gay..."

"Hey. Watch what you say about my team," Johnny said, narrowing his eyes at Jax.

"These are the facts I'm stating. Then you have Jacqui who's as stubborn as me, and your daughter who is... your daughter. I think that speaks for itself," Jax ticked off the list.

"Kung Jin and Takeda as far as fighting were already trained. There wasn't much I could improve on Takeda except how to keep his head in the game at times and how to trash talk," Johnny said, making Jax face palm.

"Is that really a thing you teach all of your students?" he asked.

"Yes. Because it's good to have a way with words just like a way with fists. But I don't just teach them about trash talk. I teach them how to tone a situation down. To solve a situation with words instead of bullets, fists, and pain. Kung Jin was especially good at it, though he prefers violence," Johnny said, making Jax raise an impressed eyebrow. That's a really good thing to know how to do. Some situations you just couldn't fight out of, so it was better to talk your way out of it.

"That's smart," Jax said, before taking out a cigar. Now it was Johnny's turn to groan in an exasperated way.

"Ugh. Jacqui told me about how many of those you smoke. You really should kick the habit," he told him.

"You sound just like Vera and Jacqui. Look, I'm healthy as a horse. Regardless of how many cigars I smoke," Jax said, about to light the cigar when a Shadow Ball annihilated most of the cigar in his hand. Jax looked to see Johnny with his right hand out, his face locked in a smirk.

"You have iron arms. Not iron lungs. Consider me your personal surveyor. I'm going to help you break the habit of those cigars," he said. Jax groaned.

"Somehow, you are going to be worse than Vera. I can already see it," he said, flicking the remains of the cigar at the wall.

"Call me motivated. Anyway, moving on to Kung Jin. Like I already said, he was good at knowing how to talk people down, which helped him survive Sonya for a while. He was a kickass archer and an able fighter, but he tended to count his chickens before they hatched. A lot like me during the first tournament I went to, which is far from a good thing," Johnny said.

"You can actually admit that the way you acted was plain annoying?" Jax questioned.

"Back then? Yes. How I act now? No. I like how I act now. I'm far from the most serious person in the world, but that's the way I like it," Johnny said with a smile before continuing. "Now when it came to Cassie, I taught her similarly to how I taught myself."

"You taught yourself?" Jax questioned.

"Through tons of kung fu movies and exercising, but yes. I taught myself. I didn't teach her through kung fu movies, but I taught her through a style she was familiar with. Comfortable to act on. Hitting her in the nuts was something she did herself, which I'm proud of," Johnny said with a self satisfied smirk, making Jax groan softly again. "Then I taught her how to incorporate what little Shadow power she had in her attacks. She held more of a prowess through kicks, flips, and lunges. I was always more of the type to be light on my feet. Be quick with punching, kicking, and Shadow attacks. Flips were only really use to show off."

"And she ended up following in your footsteps as a fighter. Defeating Shinnok just like you did," Jax said.

"Both cases were circumstantial. When I fought Shinnok, I thought Sonya was about to die which gave me my most powerful form of my Shadow power. The same thing happened to Cas when she was in the same situation was. The power my family holds is obviously great, but I still don't know how it compares to even a former Elder God," Johnny said.

"In everything but power, the Elder Gods are pretty damn useless. I still haven't forgotten about how they failed to act in the last war. So many of us died because they didn't," Jax said.

"Somehow, me and Sonya did. Everyone else's wounds were pretty much fatal," Johnny said, remember the absolute slaughter that happened that day.

"You all got off easy. I got a boot in my throat from Sindel. At least it didn't last long," Jax said.

"She hit me in the face a lot. It's almost like she knew that's where I hated to be hit. I kind of wanted a rematch. You know, without all of those extra souls powering her and stuff," Johnny said.

"And still get your ass kicked," Jax said with a small smirk.

"Not when I'm wearing earplugs," Johnny said, smirking and pointing at his ears. Jax simply shook his head. Johnny was always going to be Johnny.

"And my daughter?" Jax asked.

"The robotic attachments on her arms? That was all her. She did that as an honor for your service in Special Forces. It was easily a good reason for her to have them. And to center her fighting style around them," Johnny said. Jax covered his mouth behind his metal hands, but it couldn't hide the wide, prideful smile he got on his face after Johnny told him that. Johnny noticed his lips curve upward behind his hand and smiled.

"You should be proud of your kid. She's made of some serious mettle. Just like her dad. And it was sure as hell of a pleasure training her," he said. Jax looked up at Johnny and rubbed the back of his head.

"Listen, I may have had you all wrong Cage. Apparently, there's more to you that meets the eye. I initially thought you were all cut and dry," Jax said.

"There's more to me than you know Jax. I just prefer not to show that side in favor of keeping things light and depressing myself," Johnny said, resting his hand on his cheek. Jax decided on taking a seat right next to him and looked him straight in the eye.

"You ever thought about retiring?" he asked.

"A few times. It's come to mind, but I know if I don't face my problems, they're going to come back to haunt me. Sonya is one of those problems," Johnny said.

"It's doing you no good just hanging around this place. You said it yourself. You hate being bored. I doubt there's anyone for you to train right now. And there probably won't be for a long time. You should get away from the thing that's stressing you out, not go towards it with corny jokes and fake smiles," Jax told him.

"And just what would I do? My career as an actor is over. I made that clear to the public and my agent. There's nothing I can do to take up my time that's actually fun," Johnny said.

"You could open a school to teach people martial arts. While you aren't the best fighter among the realms, you're still good at it. It would be good for you," Jax suggested, but Johnny immediately shook his head.

"I train men and women into soldiers and kombatants, not casual fighters and people just looking to defend themselves. People would ask too many questions, and that wouldn't be all that good," he said before smirking. "Besides, I don't think I want to hand over my particular style of fighting to the public."

"Then... ugh, as much as this sound like a bad idea, you could help me and Vera with the farm," Jax suggested, rolling his eyes at his own idea before smirking. "That is, if Mr. A-List can handle it."

"I don't know a damn thing about animals," Johnny said.

"Then I'll help you. As long as you at least try and take it seriously. Tone down on the jokes until you actually know what you're doing. Prove to Vera that you can be civilized. Cause don't forget. I'm not the only one you have to convince to let you stay," Jax reminded him.

"You're staying retired?" Johnny asked.

"That is if Sonya doesn't manage to convince me to stay. I have to admit. It was fun getting back in action. Knocking some of that rust off. Kicking the shit out of people just like in the glory days," Jax said, pounding his fists together.

"I'll think about it. Retirement's just probably not for me," Johnny said.

"Then get back in the field like I might do. I don't know Cage. Just do something besides lay around and waste away feeling sorry for yourself. You most likely can't get back what you and Sonya had, so focus on something else or find a new woman to take your mind off things," Jax said, making Johnny rub his forehead furiously.

"I know I said I was trying to get you to quit, but I'd love one of those cigars now," he said, making Jax smirk.

"And you wonder why I smoke so much. It was cause of days where I'd get stressed just like you are right now," he said, taking out a packet of cigars. He took out to and passed one to Johnny. He grabbed a lighter and lit Johnny's before lighting his own. Johnny closed his eyes and inhaled before blowing out the smoke in the air and sighing in relaxation. The smell, the sensation he got when the affected air traveled through his lungs was somehow really relaxing. And Johnny hardly ever smoked. When he did, he didn't like it. But either he was really stressed or these were some really good cigars for him to like these.

"If someone told me we'd be sitting here, having a relaxing conversation while smoking a cigar together, I think the both of us would call that person crazy," Johnny said with a lazy smile.

"You got that right," Jax said before blowing out a cloud of smoke. "Speaking of which, I'm curious about something."

"Shoot," Johnny said, putting the cigar back in his mouth for another puff.

"I've beaten your ass a number of times," Jax said, tapping the cigar and knocking some of the cinders on the floor without a care in the world.

"So what? You want to rub it in?" Johnny asked after blowing out another cloud of smoke.

"No, that's not the point. I've just now noticed that you haven't fought back on either of those times," Jax said.

"Well, that's cause my Shadow power tends to hurt people really bad. I want to avoid that cause we're on the same side. Regardless of how many times it seems like it's the opposite of that," Johnny explained to him. "Why bring it up now?"

"Cause now that I think about it, it's very much a punk tactic to beat up on somehow who won't fight back. And Jackson Briggs is no punk," Jax said, taking another puff from his cigar.

"So what? You want me to fight back?" Johnny questioned, dropping cinders from the cigar on the floor.

"Exactly. Last time we 'fought,' I broke your damn jaw. How do you even take that calmly?" Jax questioned.

"Simple. I don't take it personally. I've suffered worse than a broken jaw," Johnny said, taking a puff from the cigar.

"Like what?" Jax asked. Once Johnny blew out the smoke, his face was locked into a worried frown.

"Nothing," he said idly, but Jax shook his head.

"Uh-uh. You're gonna have to tell me more than that, Cage," Jax said with a frown on his face.

"The time when the revenant version of you stabbed me. I literally had to claw on to what life I had left," Johnny said, making Jax freeze. "That's why I didn't want to bring it up."

"It happened. No sense pretending like it didn't," Jax said, taking another puff and blowing out smoke. "Listen, we're going to spar tomorrow if I have anything to say about it. And I want you to fight back."

"So you want me to hurt you?" Johnny asked.

"At least hit me. Give me something to remember. Break my leg. Bust my balls. Something," Jax said, gesturing his left arm wildly to prove his point.

"I guess. Not like that piece of machinery still works anyway," Johnny said with a smirk.

"Says the guy who can do splits like someone without a penis," Jax said with a smirk. Johnny laughed out loud from that one.

"Well played. See, this is when you're a fun person to conversate with," he said, gesturing his cigar at Jax.

"I could say the same about you," he said, gesturing his cigar at him as well.

"Dad?" Johnny and Jax suddenly heard Cassie say from outside. Though it was very faint. Johnny glanced at Jax, who gestured towards the door.

"It's your daughter, not mine," he said, taking another puff from his cigar. Johnny sighed before handing his cigar to Jax.

"Keep ahold of it. I still wanna keep smoking it," Johnny said, rising up from his chair.

"I gotcha. Now go see what your daughter wants. After all, you did nearly die a few weeks ago," Jax said. Johnny nodded before walking out of the building his was in. He rubbed his wrists not out of soreness, but just out of habit as he looked around to see what his daughter was. He could see her walking towards his direction with the rest of his team. He smiled as he saw the fully formed team together. Fresh off their first mission as an official team.

"Cas, what's up?!" Johnny exclaimed in a cheerful tone with his arms spread wide.

"You seem awfully cheerful for someone who's had nothing to do but listen to Secretary Blake yap in your ear for the last few weeks," Cassie said as they got closer to him.

"Well, I've found a few things to numb his voice. It's called earplugs," Johnny said with a smirk before crossing his arms and looking at his team properly. "Well, well. Look at you four. An official team now. I may vomit with pride."

"All thanks to you Mr. Cage. You're the one who put this team together and trained us," Jacqui told him in a grateful tone.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Johnny said with a self assured smile.

"Yes. A lot of us couldn't stand each other half the time," Jacqui said.

"No, that was just Jin. Cause he could be a pig head a lot of the time," Cassie said.

"And you couldn't? You thought you were the leader of this group," Jin said.

"And she is. She is a higher rank than all of you. So are you telling me you haven't been listening to her?" Johnny said, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. Jin scratched the back of his head awkwardly and Johnny simply raised his chin slightly and looked at Jin in a way that was reminiscence of the way Sub-Zero, or Kuai Liang when he had just proved his point. Honestly, it was weird to everyone of the group how he looked like that in that moment.

"If I was still in charge of you, I'd make you run around the base ten times. Be glad that I'm not," Johnny said in a serious tone, which was again, unnerving. Johnny was hardly ever serious.

"How's your face? You know, since Maggot Mouth," Cassie asked him to change the subject.

"Fine. I personally call her Hive Vagina or Cockroach Cunt, but that name's pretty good too," Johnny said, making the entire group laugh. Even when he was training them, Johnny wasn't this brash when he was with them. Them officially becoming a team really showed that Johnny had found them mature enough to treat them like adults.

"You will never change, will you Mr. Cage?" Takeda asked.

"If I did, I wouldn't be Johnny Cage. Her mother has been trying to change me for years, and so have the other officers of Special Forces. All of their attempts were a complete waste of time," Johnny said with a smirk before Cassie started sniffing and traced the smell over to her father. "Did you become part bloodhound when you got hit with that Shadow energy?"

"No. It's just... is that smoke on you?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah. Just came back from a conversation with Mr. Briggs. I can tell he had him a few cigars before I saw him," Johnny said. It really wasn't a lie. Jax smelled like smoke the moment he walked in the building. He could smell it easily.

"Ugh. I don't think he's ever going to break the habit," Jacqui said, face palming.

"Hey, maybe the Tin Man has an iron lung. Maybe that's why he feels he can get away with it," Johnny said with a wide smile.

"Where is he?" Jacqui asked. Johnny turned and pointed to a building they were just in. She immediately walked off in that direction before Johnny turned back to the group.

"So how was your first unsupervised mission?" he asked.

"Easy. Very easy compared to the thing with Shinnok and Outworld," Cassie said, placing a hand on her hip. "How's mom?"

"Dunno. Haven't seen her very much, and personally, I'm not that beaten up about it. She's worse than Blake when it comes to orders," Johnny said.

"Yeah, I can agree with that statement. Though she seemed very concerned when you nearly got killed by Shinnok. I thought-"

"Your mother is your mother. Me dying or almost dying will not change that. She is who she is. And it would do you well to do that," Johnny told his daughter seriously.

"Thanks for the tip dad," Cassie said.

"Good. Now, I'm glad you're here cause I want tell you all something. I'm thinking about retiring," Johnny said, making his three trainees look at him strangely.

"I mean, I really shouldn't be surprised after what happened with Shinnok, but... you're actually going to retire?" Cassie asked.

"I might. If I don't retire, I'm going back into the field. Either way, I need to find some way to get away from your mother. I've heard being around your ex is usually bad for your health, but I actually think it's right. Between her and Blake, I'll die of stress before I die of age," Johnny said.

"Well, alright. If this is what you want-"

"It _is_ what I want. Well, it might. Trust me on this. But I'm certainly not going to get out of shape. I worked too hard to get this fit and this good looking," Johnny said flexing, making Cassie roll her eyes.

"Well, some things will never change. Like your ego," Takeda said.

"I will be who am I. That will never change Tak," Johnny told him.

"That's unfortunate. You're a lot more pleasant when you act serious half of the time," Jax said as he walked up to him with Jacqui at his side. Then he held out the cigar Johnny asked him to keep. "Here."

"Thanks. Mind lighting it again?" Johnny asked as the members of his team watched with curiosity and confusion. But Jax obliged and held out his lighter and lit it as Johnny approached him and got his cigar near the flame so he could light it.

"Did we miss something?" Jacqui asked.

"A few things. I've learned that Tin Man can lighten up every now and then," Johnny said, putting an arm around his shoulder. Jax impatiently shrugged it off.

"Don't make me change my mind to what I thought about you previously," he warned Johnny.

"Alright. Fine, fine," Johnny said before taking a puff from the cigar.

"Since when do you smoke?" Cassie asked him.

"Since today. It helps with the stress," Johnny said, blowing smoke to the sky.

"Exactly why I smoke them," Jax said with a small smirk aimed towards his daughter.

"Great. You've even got Mr. Cage into your habit," Jacqui said.

"It's not a habit until I start buying them myself Miss Briggs," Johnny said with a smirk aimed at his pupil, who rolled her eyes.

"Just wait. Soon you'll be smoking almost as many as him," Jacqui said with a pointed look at her father.

"Cage." Johnny looked up all of a sudden and saw that Sonya was walking towards him with Secretary Blake, which immediately caused the smirk on Johnny's face to disappear. It wasn't Sonya. It was the sight of Blake that upset him.

"One second," Johnny said as he walked towards the pair. "General. Sir Balding of the Shaved Kingdom." Blake looked at Johnny with a distasteful expression at his words for, which only made Johnny smile. He and Blake have been at odds since Johnny got here. Mainly cause they were everything the other was not. Blake was serious, boring, balding, not a good fighter, definitely NOT devilishly handsome. At least, that's how Johnny would've put it in his own unique words.

"Johnny," Sonya said with a nod. Johnny raised an eyebrow at his ex-wife before smiling.

"Watch yourself. You keep calling me by my name, and I might actually get used to it. Whatcha need?" he asked, crossing his arms with the cigar still in between his fingers. Blake was about to speak, but Sonya cut him off.

"Since when do you smoke?" she asked, pointing at the cigar.

"Since I needed something to take the edge off the boredom," Johnny said, taking a puff from the cigar and blowing out a cloud of smoke.

 _"Anyway,"_ Blake said with a sideways look at Sonya. "I carry a formal congratulations from the other directors. You trained your team well. They are the reason that Earthrealm was lead to victory in the first place. Regardless of the things I initially thought about you, you managed to pull together."

"It was the one thing around this place I actually enjoyed doing. So of course I was going to get it done," Johnny said, taking another puff from the cigar.

"Considering your success with your team, and as we have no new recruits at the moment, the directors are offering you one of two things," Blake said.

"Ok, you've got my attention," Johnny said, dropping some of the cinders from the cigars on the ground. "Continue."

"One, you train our soldiers. The are not much more useful than shooting, which isn't much. Training from a fighting veteran would go a long way in helping our soldiers defend themselves better," Blake explained.

"Or?" Johnny questioned.

"You get back in the field. Raiden says there are a few things that he could definitely use you for," Sonya suddenly said. "It's up to you."

Johnny would've jumped at the opportunity to get back in the field if you asked him about a month ago. But now... the thought of being able to kick back and relax after fighting for so long would be nice. He knew that he at least bought him a good few years of peace. He wouldn't get out of shape in case yet another war kicked off. But it would nice to only have to fight for fun. Not for necessity. He knew what he wanted right then and there.

"Thanks but no thanks. The offering is tempting, but I'd rather retire," Johnny said, causing Sonya's eyes to widen. She knew that he was pretty close to dying from the encounter with Shinnok, but she figured that Johnny lived for that type of thrill.

"Retirement? Unexpected," Blake said simply.

"Yeah, it really is. But I'd rather be able to kick back and relax. Personally, the only thing that kept me in this damn place was my daughter. Now that's she's trained, I have no other motivation to remain here. So yeah. I'm done with Special Forces," Johnny said in a conclusive voice.

"Alright then. I'll make your request known to the other directors," Blake said, walking away immediately. Johnny could tell that the bastard was all too happy to get rid of them. Then again, he probably wouldn't be the only one.

"Why are you retiring?" Sonya asked him.

"Like I said. Cassie was the only thing keeping me around this place. Plus I can easily just say that I'm tired of living like this. But hell. You should be celebrating really. I'm finally out of your hair," Johnny said, taking another puff from the cigar and blowing the smoke in the air.

"Johnny-"

"Don't blow me any shit about how you want me to stick around. We both know that isn't true," Johnny said in a slightly angry tone. "Just accept the fact that I'm retiring and move on. It's not that hard." Sonya's face seemed to harden once he said that, which Johnny expected. She was always the one to shell away from personal things while at work. It was one of the things he admired before. Now he just found it irritating.

Then they had just stood there in silence, neither of the former exes saying a word to each other. Sonya didn't quite know what to think of Johnny's retirement. One part of her would definitely not miss the way he acted around this place, but another part would. And it confused/frustrated her to no end. She was still battling with herself when Blake had shown up.

"Well, your retirement has been approved. And the directors say it's well earned. We have a shuttle to take you anywhere you want to go," Blake said.

"I'm riding with Jax. He's got an opportunity for me, I guess you could say," Johnny said.

"Very well. Major Briggs!" Blake exclaimed over to the group. Jax waved at his daughter and the other fighters before walking over to them.

"Can I get the hell out of here now?" Jax asked.

"You can indeed. Mr. Cage says he is with you. Is this true?" Blake asked. Jax nodded.

"Yes he is. I might regret it in the long run, but yes," he said.

"Very well then. If you will follow me," Blake said, walking and gesturing towards the direction they were going. Johnny walked past Sonya without a word and Jax stayed behind to face his old partner and friend.

"Since when are you two friends?" Sonya asked.

"Since he told me about what happened with you two. Turns out Cage was dealing with a lot more problems than I originally thought. Like the fact that he did most of the work with your daughter while you were at work," Jax said, looking her straight in the eye.

"I had responsibilities. He did not. What does it matter who raised who?" Sonya asked.

"You're supposed to be a family. Letting him raise your daughter through most of her years while you go off to work is not good. Not good at all. And here was me thinking you divorced Cage," Jax said, shaking his head.

"I've never heard him say any of this to me," Sonya said, frowning slightly.

"Let me ask you something. Have you really talked anything through with him? Before or after the divorce?" Jax asked.

"Tin Man! You coming?" Johnny yelled out to Jax.

"One minute. I know where to find the damn shuttle," Jax yelled back before going back to Sonya. "Have you?"

"Have you tried to have a discussion with Johnny Cage?" Sonya questioned.

"Yes I did. Just a few minutes ago. And he was serious through most of it, which surprised even me. I can't tell you what to do, and I'm certainly not going to, but I think you definitely need to do some thinking. Cause if you keep acting like the way you are towards Cage and towards your daughter, there's going to be nothing but resentment there. And trust me. I know what I'm talking about," Jax said before walking past Sonya and jogging to quickly catch up to Blake.

"I was beginning to think it would take you ten years to get here," Johnny said, tossing the considerably shrunken cigar on the ground and stomping on it.

"I told you I was going to get here. Just stopped to talk to an old friend," Jax said.

"Fair enough," Johnny said as the door to the shuttle opened. "Hard to believe I'm retiring."

"You'll get used to the idea. Trust me, it'll be fun not having the stress of this place on your back," Jax said as I walked inside of the shuttle before Johnny held a hand out to stop him. "What, Cage?"

Johnny held out a hand to the man with a considerable stolid, but grateful expression on his face.

"I just wanna say thanks for the advice. And the listening. Who knew talking about your problems actually helped?" he questioned.

"You're welcome. I still think you're a fool, but at least I don't think you're absolutely unbearable," Jax said, shaking the man's hand.

"Eh. We all change eventually. Now we gotta go. Those cows won't milk themselves," Johnny said, getting inside the shuttle and sitting next to Jax, who groaned. He felt that this trip was going to be long as hell...

* * *

A/N: And that's the end of that! I had a bit of fun with this, even though it look longer than expected. I was starting to near 9000 words with this one. I'm not sure whether to rate this one M considering the bit of language I used in this one. Ah, fuck it. I'll rate it T. Cause whatever. Hope you all enjoyed this little experiment of mine.


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